


Love Like Faded Photographs

by orphan_account



Category: Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Bisexual Male Character, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, On Hiatus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25137061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Red is trying to dig up remnants of his past in the Commonwealth. Now when he must choose between the past and the present, he gets caught up in something far bigger than he could have imagined.Basically just me self-indulging in a little AU (Formerly called ‘From Eden’)
Relationships: Male Courier/ Original Female Character, Male Courier/Arcade Gannon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. The Past Which Tears Us Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m posting this so I have to finish it because now it’s online and I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t finish it. I will also probably come back and further edit this chapter at a later date.

_In the new Mojave Wasteland, fighting continued, blood was spilled, and many lived and died- just as they had in the Old World. Because war. War never—_

"Gah! Stupid thing!" radio static blared loudly as a woman banged and kicked at said radio in a futile attempt to get it working again.

"Raul, radio's busted. Again!" She called out for her housemate. A ghoulish man, skin deteriorating from radiation with a poor excuse for a mustache, stepped through the door and ran over in anguish.

"Don't kick it, you'll only make it worse. Let me take a look at it.." He knelt down next to it and was already immersed in the circuitry of the old world artifact. "That's the third time this week it's done that." The radio made a horrible screech that echoed through the house, and the duo quickly covered their ears.

A girl in a stylish pink dress stumbled into the room in a huff, "I didn't miss anything did I, Cass?"

The woman pulled off her cowboy hat to fan her face, a few red wisps of hair poking up in rebellion to the tight bun she'd pulled her hair back into.

"Dunno, radio went out." She responded to the wide-eyed Veronica. "Can't go a day without it breaking on us. Should take it to a proper repair man." Cass added under her breath.

"I heard that. Hey, amigo, fetch me my screwdriver, will you?" Raul called to Veronica, not taking his eyes off the radio as he scanned through the wiring with a dim flashlight.

Veronica rushed back out just as soon as she'd arrived, bumping into a much taller man, immersed in his own writing. His wire-rimmed glasses reflected the dim ceiling lights as he paced back and forth . He nearly knocked Veronica over before he managed to clumsily grapple her arm and pull her back up.

"Sorry, Arcade!" She didn't bother to stop and talk more, knowing Arcade wouldn't want to anyway.

She speed-walked down the hall and into the shared bedrooms where she found a dog resting on the floor, his brain exposed by a glass dome atop his head, and most of his limbs replaced with cybernetic ones. Rex rested his head sleepily at the feet of Boone, who was too busy tinkering with his sniper rifle to even notice Veronica enter.

"Screwdriver?" She asked.

Without looking up, Boone dug in a nearby toolbox, and threw the screwdriver to Veronica.

"Thanks." And she hurried off again.

This is how it was every day here; controlled chaos. It had only gotten more chaotic since the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. New Vegas was now an independent power, but that meant they all had a lot more work to do since nobody else was there to do it. Helping the Followers of the Apocalypse keep up with their new intake of patients thanks to the rioting, making sure food and water were still being supplied to all those who needed it, it was busy work. But there in the presidential suite of the Lucky 38, the chaos was a little more manageable.

It was like a menagerie of strange people from all walks of life, living under the same roof thanks to one common factor in their lives.

The elevator dinged and the house grew quiet, bar the continued static of the radio.

 _Speak of the devil._ Arcade thought as he watched the elevator in anticipation. The rusted doors slid open, and out stepped a man who looked to have been to hell and back, which wouldn't be completely wrong. His messy dark brown hair had been pulled back in a loose ponytail, a torn duster fluttered behind him as he stepped into the presidential suite of the Lucky 38. He looked tired, but otherwise happy to be home. Rex rushed out from the bedrooms to greet his master, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he jumped up on his knees. 

"It's good to see you too, buddy!" Red chuckled as he scratched the robo-dog behind the ears.

Veronica rushed over and pulled him into a tight hug, to which he returns the gesture. Boone momentarily poked his head out and gave Red a simple "Welcome back" before going back to work. Cass slumped over in the door frame with a smirk, "Got bored of ruling New Vegas so you came to pay us a visit?" She remarks with sarcasm.

"Ha, like things would ever get boring around here. Besides, I haven't seen any of you since the battle."

It'd been just a few short weeks since the Second Battle of Hoover Dam; they'd managed to push both the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion out of the Mojave for good.

Raul, still busy with the radio, shouted from the other room, "Buenas tardes, amigo! Cómo estás?"

"Eh, más o menos." replied Red, bluntly. Arcade sat back quietly, enjoying the couriers presence more than anything. He took in every little detail, his confident strides like a sheriff in an old western film, his fruity voice, his muscular build.

It was now he realized he was staring, and Red was staring back. Arcades eyes quickly darted away, electing to focus on the carpeted floor instead. Instead of brushing it off however, Red walker over and picked him up in a bear hug; though with Arcade being the significantly taller of the two, Red more so just forced him to stand on his tippy-toes. Arcade's face went from a light pink to a deep red as he tried to regain his balance. It was hard to imagine this was the same man who had brought down two armies just weeks prior.

It was fascinating to Arcade that one courier with a death wish and good intentions could do so much for the people of New Vegas. It was something he truly admired about his traveling companion, sure he wasn't always inclined to think before he did something idiotic, but Arcade was always there to patch him up and tell Red how stupid he was and how he could have gotten himself killed; and in turn, Red brought him plant samples for his research and took him exploring. It was a mutually beneficial relationship.

Though despite how much they'd travelled together, regardless of how many times they'd saved each other from near inescapable death, Arcade knew next to nothing about Red's past. It'd always bothered him a bit, but whenever he tried to bring it up, he'd make up some ridiculous story, or deflect the questions.

 _Was he hiding something?_ Arcade often wondered. He too had things from his past he didn't want others to know of, when they'd first met, Arcade did the same thing. Though Red found out in the end anyway, when Arcade brought up the idea of gathering the Enclave remnants for the battle. _What could be worse than having been with the Enclave?_ He thought, _Is he ex-Legion? A perfect synthetic copy of a real person?_ Arcade had never heard Red talk about anything before being shot in the head outside Goodsprings.

That's when something clicked, another possibility Arcade had never thought of: Maybe he doesn't talk about his past because he doesn't remember it.

Red finally put Arcade back down, gave him a pat on the back and said, "It's good to see you," an earnest bit goofy smile plastered on his face.

"Likewise." Was all Arcade could say.

* * *

That night was a quiet one, everyone huddled together on the beaten old couch and watched a collection of pre-war sci-fi movies. Raul was the first one to fall asleep, he always was, huddled in front of the couch with a content Rex resting in his lap. Next was Veronica, who was drooling on Cass' shoulder. Boone left after the 3rd movie and went to the bedroom rather than joining the dogpile of sleeping people. Slowly everybody drifted off to sleep, with the two exceptions being Arcade and Red.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, Arcade still trying to make sense of Red's past, he was hardly paying attention to the movie. Red let out a long yawn, stretching his arms up in the air before letting one fall over Arcade's shoulder. Arcade felt the arm snake around him and chuckled quietly, "Really? You pull that trick?" He leaned into Red so that his head was in the crook of his neck.

"What? I didn't pull any trick. I was just stretching is all. If you don't like it, then move." He smirked innocently. Red knew exactly how to get on Arcades nerves.

"...no." His face turned a deep pink as he stubbornly refused to move, crossing his arms defensively. Red snickered, tilting his head to sit on top of Arcade's. The warmth of their intertwined bodies was comforting, and distracted Arcade for a moment from his hypothesis' on Red's past. Only for a moment, however

 _If he wanted to know, all he had to do was ask,_ Arcade told himself. _Just ask._

"Red?"

"Hm?"

"How... What was your life like? Before all this. Before you were a courier, I mean." He tried to phrase the question so that Red couldn't pretend he didn't know what Arcade meant.

"...I.." He started, then paused for a moment.

"..Do you really want to know?" He asked, as though once Arcade knew, there'd be no turning back.

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't interested." Arcade repeated what Red told him in their first encounter.

Red took a long time to respond, before bluntly saying, "I don't remember. Everything before Benny put that bullet in my brain, it's just... gone. Sometimes I have dreams of people I don't know, places I've never been, things that didn't happen. I've still got little remnants here and there," He dug in his pocket and pulled something out, it was a photograph of a woman. She had short, fiery red hair, freckles dotting every inch of skin, and a big bright smile. Red turned over the photograph and it had something written on it, Jenna, Diamond City Trip, 2279.

Red continued, "but it's not enough to tell me who I might have been ." There was another long silence, the movie droned on in the background, though they'd both long since stopped paying attention.

Arcade glanced at the photo again, memorizing every detail, wondering how Red must have felt in that moment, how in love with that woman he must have been to keep her photo with him everywhere he went; he tried suppressed any envious thoughts he had.

Arcade knew where the conversation was going and he wasn't ready to let go of Red just yet. His brain scrambled for something, anything to say that would make him stay.

"... Red whatever happened in your past, it doesn't matter now. We need you. I..." he struggled to finish the sentence, moving closer to him "Don't leave. Please." His voice was soft and sincere, he was genuinely pleading with Red.

Their faces were only inches from one another now. Arcade could feel Red's warm breath now, it was almost intoxicating. Their lips touched, it was soft, and only last a moment before Red pulled away. Arcade had thought about this moment before, he'd always fantasized about finally being able to have transparency with his and Red feelings; but this just seemed to make things even more complicated and messy.

They didn't say another word to each other, and eventually Arcade fell asleep, and when he awoke, Red was gone. He was nowhere to be found in the suite, all he'd left was a note.

_Going away for a while. Be back soon._

Almost 6 years passed and he had never returned.


	2. That Place Where We Met

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Synth Shaun time baby. Sorry this chapters so short, the next one should be a bit longer.  
> Also: I’m gonna be posting a new chapter every Friday.

_Shaun was a good kid, he didn't like to get into trouble, even if trouble was the wasteland's strong suit. Because despite his good nature, trouble seemed to follow him wherever he went._

_Like now for instance. He was hiding out in a decrepit building from a courser who had been tracking him the past few weeks. He stayed deathly quiet, back pressed into a crumbling wall as footsteps swept through the area._

_"Come out kid, I just wanna take you back home." He'd seen enough coursers reduce their targets to nothing but ash to know that was a lie._

_Almost like Lady Luck herself had smiled upon him, a shot rang out from a nearby rooftop. It just barely missed the courser, who then started looking for the source of the bullet. Shaun's eyes darted upward, and spotted a young girl with a sniper rifle on the roof of a building. Loading another bullet into the rifle, she fired again, just as the courser had spotted her and was aiming down his own sight._

_BANG_

_A chunk of the courser's head was blown off, exposing the circuitry of the synth. It fell to the ground, now destroyed. The girl let out a heavy sigh like she'd been holding her breath. "You can come out now, I dealt with.. whoever that was."_

_Shaun reluctantly stepped out, eyeing the nearby back alley and calculated the odds of getting through it unscathed. The girl scurried down the fire escape, which still clung tightly to the side of the building even so many centuries later. Finally, she stepped out of the darkness of the back alley. She had messy ginger hair, chopped off into a pixie cut; her dull grey-blue eyes gave her the appearance of a war-torn soldier. Despite this, she couldn't have been older than 13._

_She held out a hand to him, the other kept an old sniper rifle strapped to her back._

_“Who was that guy? He seemed like a total creep ."_

_"I... I'm not sure." A knot of worry churned in his stomach, he didn't like lying, but if he was going to survive in the wasteland, he'd need friends._

_"'You're not sure,' huh? What was all that about about taking you home?" She smirked like she already knew everything there was to know about Shaun, his stomach churned further._

_"I...um..." What was he going to tell her? That he was an escaped synth on the run from coursers?_

_She waited a moment before continuing on anyway, almost like she knew it was a sore subject._

_"My name's Jenna. What's yours?"_

_"..Shaun." He replied, relenting for a moment before shaking her hand._

_"Shaun? That's a nice name. Where are you from?"_

_"Oh, I actually grew up in a bunker, not far from here." It wasn't entirely a lie, just this particular bunker was actually an underground facility full of synthetic humans._

_"Wow, must be crazy being out in the Wasteland for the first time. Tell you what, you seem pretty capable at hiding and sneaking around; why don't you come with me and we can help each other out?"_

_“I.. uh, alright.”_

_And that's how their friendship began._


	3. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

The dim city lights of Diamond City flickered in the moonlight, as even in the dead of night, the town had a hustle and bustle that kept it alive. Red didn't much care for big cities, but after an entire year of traversing the dangerous wasteland and finally arriving at his destination, he wasn't going to just up and leave.

A settler had been kind enough to point him in the direction of a local private eye; Nick Valentine. It didn't take long to find the rundown shack he was living in, there were neon signs just about everywhere pointing it out.

Red rapped on the door before coming in anyway. The place was a mess, there were stacks of papers littering nearly every surface, boxes of files wherever there weren't papers, and a person slumped over in front of their desk, sleeping.

Well, to call them a person wouldn't quite describe them. They were humanoid, yes, but they looked more like an assortment of scrap metal and wires made to resemble a human being. He wore an old fedora, like those noir detectives would wear, as well as a worn old suit with a loosened black tie.

"'Scuse me—" Red said, speaking a little louder than he'd intended. The robot-person jumped in his seat, grabbing hold of his desk to keep balance.

"—Sorry, I'm looking for someone, and was told you could help?" The rusting detective, now slightly less on edge, adjusted his tie and sat up straight.

"Well you definitely came to the right place then. Come sit down." Nick pushed off of the desk and slid to the other side of the room. He dug through a pile of papers for a moment before finding a blank one.

"Right, first order of business; have we got a name for this person?" Nick pulled a pen out from behind his ear and got ready to write.

"Jenna, I think." Red told him with uncertainty.

"You _think_?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, all I've got to go off of is this photograph." He pulled the picture out of his pocket and handed it to Nick. He flipped it over a few times, and gave Red an inquisitive look.

"That's... all we've got to work with, huh?" Red gave the detective a pleading look. Nick let out a long sigh.

"It's not much, might take a long time to find her."

"I've got time." Red replied. Nick looked over the paper once again.

"Why are you looking for this girl anyway? I'm not one to assume anything about my client's, or anything, but you don't seem to know much about her..."

Red hesitated, "A while back, I got shot in the head. When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything, but I still had that photograph with me. I want to find her and see if she knows anything about my past." There was a long silence as Valentine registered everything.

Nick scribbled down a few more things on the paper before looking it over and chuckling, "I think this has got to be one of the stranger cases I've gotten. 'Missing man is looking for himself,'" Nick stuck out a wired hand, "What's your name, if you remember it, that is."

"Most folks just call me Red." He shook the detective's hand.

"Nick Valentine, though I'm sure you already knew that from the neon sign out front." Red snickered.

"I'll start looking into this mystery woman of ours."

*****

5 years and several dead ends later, Red was making a life for himself in Diamond City. He was well acquainted with the locals, and knew the town like the back of his hand. Nick had helped him get what was originally only meant to be a temporary place to stay with a journalist named Piper and her younger sister.

"Red, my favorite customer! How's it going?" Piper handed him a copy of _Publick Occurrences_ , the local newspaper.

"About as well as the last time you asked, Piper." She was always trying to get a scoop, questioning everything from everyone. In that way, she kind of reminded him of Veronica. He quickly pushed that thought to the back of his brain.

 _I came here to find my past, not to reminisce over what I left behind._

Still, he often found himself thinking back to 'the good old days,' though more specifically, he thought a lot about Arcade. Red's stomach churned with dread and guilt every time he thought back to the last night they saw each other.

_Slowly detangling his limbs from Arcade's as to not wake him, Red stood up. He packed what little he would need, some clothes, a bit of food, and a few hundred caps, leaving the rest to his companions. He scribbled down a short note, leaving it on the kitchen table, where he knew they would find it._

_He approached the elevator, pressing the button to call it up, before hesitating to get in._

_He went back to the couch where the others were still sleeping soundly, and knelt down next to Arcade._

_"I'm sorry..." he placed a kiss on his forehead before getting up to leave once more. There was a whine from behind him. Red looked over his shoulder to see Rex was giving him the sad puppy dog eyes._

_"I'll be back, boy, I promise." He gave Rex a scratch behind the ears, and got in the elevator._

_He never fulfilled that promise._

Red tried not to bring up his time in the Mojave, he'd wanted nothing more than to forget it had happened in the first place; but still those memories found their way to the front of his thoughts. And people were always so curious.

"Where are you from, Mister?" Of course it was Piper's little sister who would ask him. She probably set her up to it.

"I came here from out West." He said, trying to be as vague as possible.

"Where's 'West'"

"The Mojave." He responded, with a bit of annoyance.

Nat's eyes grew wide, "Really? What was it like? Did they really have giant geckos?"

He chuckled, "Yep, big fire-breathing geckos, 'bout as big as yourself. My friends and I had our fair share of run-ins with them."

"Your friends must have been pretty tough. What were they like?"

Red sighed, he was becoming more sure by the moment that Piper had set her up to this. Still he took the bait.

"They were pretty tough, and they were good people too. Smart, funny..." He stared at the ground longingly

"Did you like any of them?" Her eyes somehow grew even wider.

"I like all my friends." Red replied with a quirked eyebrow.

"No, I mean.. did you like like any of them. Like did you have a crush on one of them." Nat explained.

"Oh... Oh. Oh no, I'm not having this conversation." Red got up, ready to leave.

"Oh come on! Piper already told me you have a boyfriend, I just wanna know who he is!"

"Nat, I don't—" He stopped in his tracks, "wait, Piper told you what?"

"She said you talk about a guy in your sleep. What was his name? Archer? Aaron?"

" _Arcade_. And he wasn't my— we weren't... we're not together."

"But you have a crush on him?" She smiled deviously.

Red sighed with exasperation, "You ask too many questions, kid."

She giggled, "And you give too many answers."

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, nothing."


End file.
